Scary Question

Week 1: First Impressions

Rehearsal 1
         The first rehearsal of "The Scary Question" seems to have gone as expected. Because Katelyn was the only one of the two who picked up their scripts as requested, I decided to conduct a bit of an experiment with Frank. As Katelyn and Frank did a sight reading of the script I stopped them right before Brian, Frank's character, was about to ask the 'scary question'. I asked him what he thought the question was. After receiving some mixed responses, all of which were wrong, I told them to continue. As Frank read his next line the first discovery of our work together was made. Hopefully discovering that the question was about zombies made both Katelyn and Frank realize that the tone of the script is playful and fun whilst maintaining the seriousness of the question.

          So far, I cannot help but to be scared of the work that the we have cut out for us... the sight reading from both Katelyn and Frank tells me that we are going to need to have many discussions on what qualities each character has to refine their interpretations of the dialogue.

         My nervousness is assuaged however, by the eagerness and drive of each of my actors. They told me as they left that they would start memorizing their lines immediately (without me even having to ask). Just by showing me how willing to work and be involved in this process they are makes me really excited to make this a great performance.

Rehearsal 2

           Today we started by playing an improv game. Katelyn, who is already fairly experienced on stage, was very comfortable creating an action in the middle of the room. Frank however, was unable to keep a straight face or take the activity seriously. And it was for that reason that we spent the next 15 minutes helping Frank find his neutral actor body. This makes me nervous for obvious reasons. If Frank is unable to be serious in doing a simple action on stage, then how is he going to maintain the necessary sense of seriousness Brian has throughout the script?

           Next, we began reading our scripts again... After reading a section of the script, I asked Frank and Katelyn if they had any questions about any lines in particular. This led to a discussion about the character of both Brian and Linda. After our discussion where I asked them questions that helped them (I think) refine their interpretation of their characters, Katelyn, and Frank especially, made a lot of positive changes in the way they interpreted their line.